"On 'Circo Divino' the Greek Bakis Sirros (Parallel Worlds) and Italian Stefano Musso - who we know better then Alio Die - takes us on a journey through a clash of cultures. Whereas we know Alio Die mostly from his ethnic etherial ambient soundscapes, the two decided on incorporating those sounds with the modular synthetic sounds for which Bakis Sirros is know.

Pictures of the journey are depicted in six tracks where you travel from Greece to Italy in under an hour, or maybe it's a journey from an Arabian sunset to the factory outside town.

This one is quite hard to describe: In ethnic ambient there are just a few names which are way on top of everyone else, and Stefano Musso is one of them. And even though I hadn't heard his name before, my peers guarentee me that Bakis Sirros is an absolute master when it comes to modulair synthesis.

The album as a whole is very good, albeit in the genre of ethnic ritual ambience. For my personal taste the electronic sounds either got lost in the mix (which would be a shame) or they sound so amazingly organic that I can't tell the difference.

The grading would be 70 in the first case, 90 in the latter. For now 80 / 100 will emphasize it's class."

rating 8 out of 10.********************************
FYI: only 10 cd's are left in my stock.after these are gone, you'll only be able to buy Vinyl from me.

Circo Divino is a collaboration between Stefano Musso (Alio Die) from Italy and Bakis Sirros (Parallel Worlds) from Greece. Musso's organic ambience melds perfectly with Sirros' electronic experimentation, actually sounding more like the former than the latter for the most part. The music is beautifully augmented by haunting vocals on three of the six tracks by India Czajkowska, including the opener "Lost Fractales." The vocals are particularly edgy and unsettled here, in a good way. The title track is next, with Sirros' blips and bleeps blending quite well with the moody sonic undercurrent. This is exceptionally good, mesmerizing stuff. The entire disc has a wonderful flow to it, though each piece forms a unique, immersive listening experience. Often the music sounds like it was recorded near a stream or in a damp cave, very atmospheric and spacious, as on "Electrostatic Forest." Circo Divino is immediately likeable yet it should also hold up well on repeated listening as new nuances are discovered. Highly recommended.

This is the first collaboration between Italian sound alchemist Alio Die and Greek synthesizer artist Bakis Sirros aka Parallel Worlds. The music was realized by means of exchanging tracks via email. Bakis provided his modular synthesizer sounds and Stefano added his subtle field recordings and drones. The album is adorned by beautiful painted cover art. But let's get to the music. "Lost Fractales" sounds like the most pleasant of tracks to me. A mysterious drone is decorated with all types of subtle chimes and unidentifiable textures. Looped sounds and eerie voices come and go, giving the track a vaguely Industrial flair. It's pretty hard to describe the overall sound of this piece but it sure sounds shadowy, disturbing and, yes, eerie. It's dark without being oppressively so, with a touch of majesty and serenity. A subtle rhythm is heard in the second part of the track, providing an ever so gentle pulse to the ambient atmospheres. This music is breathing life, it's so vivid... I haven't heard such good Ambient in a long while. Next we get the title track. If anything, it's even richer in tone colours. However, the atmosphere is bright and solemn this time. The drones drone on in major harmonies, as Bakis provides a sharp electronic rhythm to go on with the proceedings. Various echoing textures from modular synths decorate the drones as we fly high on top of these wonderful atmospheric waves of sound. "Nuvole di Palissandro" enters a spookier realm, with stiff bottom-end, consisting of modular bass and glitchy rhythmic structures. The textures are more mysterious this time, with prominent pads and chirpy synthesizers coupled with strange echoey injections. "Sorinel" is a busy and noisy track with modular synths galore; and sounds more "Parallel Worlds" than "Alio Die" to me. There's a nice female voice making appearances at various points. This is probably the most active track of the bunch - rhythmic, with a pronounced low-end. On the other hand, the singing is also very prominent, more so than on some of the other tracks where voice is only used sparingly and in the most abstract way possible. "Electrostatic Forest" returns to more esoteric realms, with subtle flutes on top of typical Alio Die organic soundscape. "Slide of Grace" ends this journey on a mysterious and restrained note. A lot of abstract sounds are used on this track and the drones possess a genuinely ritual character. There's also a rhythmic pulse that I find highly appealing. I think it gives the track the necessary punch, without disturbing its atmospheric flow. A perfect closer! "Circo Divino" is a great album from an unlikely duo. The two styles of the artists meld surprisingly well to form an artistically strong whole that I strongly recommend to all fans of Ambient.

Reviews are for getting a gist of something to see if it's in the areas of interest for the potential audience.
This is rave review after rave review after rave review, in the 100's it seems, and the thread is 90% or more taken up by this stuff. This many words, which all basically say the same things, is beyond overload.